Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

Yesterday, Google Launched Music Beta, a cloud-based music service that lets you stream all your songs from any device.

Welcome to a world where you no longer need an Internet connection to check email. But is this truly a miracle? At long last! You can now search your Gmail, Google Docs, a Contacts without an Internet connection.

New data suggests something surprising: Microsoft's dominance of the computer game is still in place, but it's slipping. It's losing its browser lead, too.

With Slashtag.it, you can search just about any site you'd want to, all from the same homepage or search bar. You might only save a few seconds on every search--but after a while, those seconds add up

The Fast Company reader's essential source for breaking news and innovation from around the web--updated all day. Overstock.com Released From Google 'Penalty Box ' Google has released Overstock.com from its reduced search ranking after the retailer dropped a policy of encouraging colleges to post links to its products

The Fast Company reader's essential source for breaking news and innovation from around the web--updated all day. Google Secretly Making Chrome for Tablets Stealth elements in Chrome's source code reveal new features that are unmistakably designed for a tablet. Google acknowledged, "We are engaging in early open-source work for the tablet form factor, but we have nothing new to announce at this time." Cocoon, A Worry-Free Browser Cocoon aims for private, malware-free browsing by routing all Internet activity through a separate server that scrubs viruses and tracking software before such data reaches the user

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Barnes & Noble's Nook e-reader is in the headlines for a number of reasons at the moment, and it's prompting a big question: With no competing device from Amazon , can the Nook steal the Kindle's throne? The original Nook was the first e-reader to challenge the Amazon Kindle with a cleverer Android-powered device that one-upped the Kindle with a second color screen.

Next time you're shopping online , be prepared for a chat. As live chat technology evolves, e-commerce sites are finding that virtual clerks are becoming crucial to customer support and sales systems. Earlier this year, Bold Software, a live chat and click-to-call service based in Wichita, Kansas, polled 200 of their customers—mostly online merchants who use the software to interact with customers browsing their sites—to see just how effective live chats really were.

Next time you're shopping online , be prepared for a chat. As live chat technology evolves, e-commerce sites are finding that virtual clerks are becoming crucial to customer support and sales systems. Earlier this year, Bold Software, a live chat and click-to-call service based in Wichita, Kansas, polled 200 of their customers—mostly online merchants who use the software to interact with customers browsing their sites—to see just how effective live chats really were

Following its paywall (payfence?) announcement, Gray Lady readers across the web have discovered a number of loopholes. Now the Times has moved in to close them.

Shepherds of the web, from execs at Firefox to directors at Internet Explorer , have heralded HTML5 as the future of the Internet. Simply put, HTML5 is the latest revision to HTML, the core coding language of the web and the backbone of the Internet.

Twitter allows users to lock in use of HTTPS--meaning not just any amateur sitting next to you in a cafe can hack your account. Twitter recently became the latest major site to bow to pressure to make itself more secure. It added the option for users to permanently run the site via HTTPS, a more secure protocol that foils simple hacking strategies that have gained major press of late.

Last week, Mozilla VP of products Jay Sullivan indicated that HTML5 would eventually replace Adobe Flash. Along with Mozilla Firefox, every browser maker out there seems to be jumping on the bandwagon of HTML5, a term that has become the most overused buzzword in the tech industry. But HTML5 is more than just the "trend de jour," says Ryan Gavin, senior director of Internet Explorer

By now you've probably heard of HTML5, the platform that every browser maker from Microsoft to Mozilla to Google can't stop heralding as the savior of the Internet. Buzzwords aside, developers are excited about HTML5 because it creates a more elegant online experience, enabling users to enjoy the the best aspects of the web--audio, video, multimedia--without having to install external applications like Adobe Flash. In other words, HTML5 allows us to experience the Internet natively, and escape what Mozilla VP of products Jay Sullivan calls "plug-in prison." Sullivan is gung-ho about HTML5, which has become a major selling point of Firefox 4, the browser's latest iteration set launch in the coming weeks